Shop Windows to the Universe

You can see the polar ice caps in these two pictures of Mars. The ice cap at the North Pole is visible near the top of the upper picture. The ice cap at the South Pole is visible near the bottom of the lower picture. Both of these pictures were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Click on image for full size Images courtesy Phil James (Univ. Toledo), Todd Clancy (Space Science Inst., Boulder, CO), Steve Lee (Univ. Colorado), and NASA [North Pole image]; and NASA, J. Bell (Cornell U.) and M. Wolff (SSI) [South Pole image].

Related links:

Mars Polar Regions

The North and South Poles on Mars are a lot like the polar regions on Earth. They are the coldest places on the planet. The temperatures in the winter can drop to -150° C (about -238° F). Both poles have ice caps that are mostly made of water ice. The ice caps get bigger and smaller as the seasons on Mars change.

Scientists are very interested in the poles of Mars. Life on Earth needs water. Mars doesn't have any liquid water on the surface. But the poles have lots of ice made from water. Was that ice ever liquid water? The water ice might give us clues about life on Mars. We don't know if Mars has life now, or if it ever did in the past. Maybe learning more about water, and water ice, on Mars will help us learn whether there is (or ever was) life on Mars.

A new space mission will land on Mars in May 2008. It is called the Phoenix Mars Lander. It will land near the North Pole on Mars. Phoenix will search for water ice there. Scientists hope it will help us learn about the history of water, and maybe even life, on Mars!

You might also be interested in:

The first spacecraft to take a picture of the South Pole of Mars was Mariner 7. The South Pole of Mars has craters, sand dunes, and the polar ice cap. The south pole of Mars is important because that's...more

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a kind of gas. There isn't that much carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, but it is still very important. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. That means it helps trap heat coming...more

The Earth's orbit is in the shape of an ellipse (a stretched out circle), so that sometimes the Earth is closer to the Sun than at other times. Is this the cause of the seasons? You can imagine that if...more

NASA has a new spaceship on Mars. The robot is called the Phoenix Mars Lander. Phoenix landed near the North Pole on Mars. This page tells about the mission of Phoenix. It also describes the instruments...more

You might think that clouds in the sky have to be made of water like those of Earth, but this is not always so. Clouds might be made of carbon dioxide or ammonia. Just take a peek at the planets Jupiter...more

Isidis Planitia is the name of a place on Mars. Isidis Planitia is a very flat plain. It is inside the bottom of a very old crater. Isidis Planitia is big. It is about 1,500 km (930 miles) across. That...more